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Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Auburn's Quarterback Room

photo courtesy of Montgomery Advertiser

We will never know what Kelly Bryant could have accomplished in a Gus Malzahn offense. We do know Gus wanted Bryant at Auburn, after reports surfaced Malzahn visited Bryant hours before his ultimate decision. Is Bryant that "game changer" type QB? Could he have lifted the Auburn football team the way Cam Newton did? As unfair as those questions are, it's not difficult to decipher the desire Malzahn had for Bryant to come to Auburn. That won't happen, as Bryant chose Missouri as his final college stopping place.Let's take a quick look at our current QB roster. The most experienced player is Malik Willis. A Sophomore out of Roswell High in Roswell, GA Willis was a a 3 star Athlete. A QB project that could run and throw. Everyone thought he would be a fill in type player, and few gave him credit to be a starter at Auburn. How could they? With Jarrett Stidham, and Woody Barrett, the QB Gus had tabbed as his "guy" ahead of him. Next we look at Joey Gatewood. Gatewood has spent his brief time at Auburn on "Muscle Beach."*** Recovering from undisclosed injuries during his first campaign as an Auburn Tiger.Highly touted as a Dual Threat QB, The 24/7 Composite Index has him listed as an Athlete. This begs the question as to whether Gatewood has the qualities to lead the Auburn football team as a starter. Some sports writers think Gatewood is the best QB Auburn has signed in years.

"He'll be in the running to be the quarterback of the future, which could begin as soon as 2019."

The title of Most Interesting goes to Cord Sandberg. The Bradenton, FL prospect spent six years as a professional baseball player, in the minor leagues, before the former 4 star QB chose Auburn. Out of high school, Sandberg was listed as the 8th highest rated Dual Threat QB in the country, and signed with Mississippi State. With Bo Nix, the son of Auburn's Patrick Nix, Auburn will have depth, talent, and maturity in it's QB room. Except there isn't a QB's coach as of this writing. Neither is there an Offensive Coordinator. How all this plays out, is up to a beleaguered Gus Malzahn. Who does Gus trust to develop quality depth, and a winning group of leaders at this position? Auburn needs a coach that can bring out the best in the guys at this position and run an offense that can score lots of points.